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Q: history of pro-slavery sentiment in the south ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   1 Comment )
Question  
Subject: history of pro-slavery sentiment in the south
Category: Miscellaneous
Asked by: narrative-ga
List Price: $10.00
Posted: 01 Jul 2003 11:05 PDT
Expires: 31 Jul 2003 11:05 PDT
Question ID: 223943
What is the exact reference information for the following quote from
freshman Virginia Congressman Daniel C. De Jarnette, which he
delivered in Congress some time between June 1860 and the start of the
Civil War:
"The free suffrage and free labor of the North . . . has so shattered
the framework of society, that society itself exists only in an
inverted order. African slavery furnishes the only basis upon which
republican liberty can be preserved. There is more humanity, there is
more unalloyed contentment and happiness, among the slaves of the
South, than any laboring population on the globe."
Answer  
Subject: Re: history of pro-slavery sentiment in the south
Answered By: scriptor-ga on 01 Jul 2003 12:56 PDT
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Dear narrative,

The answer was very hard to find, but here it is, finally:

Daniel C. De Jarnette delivered the speech, from which the
(abbreviated and re-arranged)quotation derives, in a Congressional
Debate on the current state of the Union. The date was: Friday, 15
February 1861.

The speech was transcribed and published the very next day (Saturday,
16 February) in "The Congressional Globe - The official Proceedings of
Congress", page 942-946, issue No. 58, 36th Congress, 20th session.

Here is the full quote, as published on page 943 of the above
mentioned issue of The Congressional Globe:

"It is the free suffrage and free labor of the North which now
controls the press, the bar, the schools, and the pulpit. It is the
free suffrage and free labor of the North which has invaded the
sanctity of God's altar, and compelled its ministers to acknowledge
its divinity by dethroning Jehovah and worshiping Beelzebub. It is the
free labor at the North which has invaded the highest judical tribunal
of justice, destroying its prerogatives, and teaching man to despise
its decrees. Sir, it has so shattered the framework of society, that
society itself exists only in an invented order in the North. Capital
at the North for a long time waged an unequal contest with labor. It
looked then to the Government, and found and found that impotent for
aid. For momentary security, it seemed to sympathitze in the objects
of the fanatics and to point to the institutions of the South as fit
objects for attack. Fatal delusion! They not only introduced the
Trojan Horse into their counting-houses, but drove away their best
customers, by their efforts to enslave them.
At the South, our new republic will have no such element of discord.
Capital there owns all labor which, from its nature, so lowers the man
as to make him unfit for society and self-government. Thus capital and
labor in our new republic will work in beautiful harmony; at it is
thus that African slavery furnishes the only basis upon which
republican liberty can be preserved."

Please note that the last sentecne of the shortened quotation as you
know it has been taken out of its original context, since it comes
much later in the original speech. It is published on page 944 of the
above mentioned issue of The Congressional Globe:

"It [slavery] is an institution for which you are not responsible and
about which you know nothing. You say it is wrong, and you will put it
the course of ultimate extinction, because slaves are sometimes
treated with cruelty. That they are sometimes, but rarely, treated
with cruelty, I will admit; but such acts are punished by law, and
punished by society, with great severity. Still I know that there is
more humanity, there is more unalloyed contentment and happiness,
among the slaves of the South, than any laboring population on the
globe. Where else but at the South are the laborers nursed when sick,
and taken care of when they get too old to work? Where but at the
South is it the interest of capital to provide food for the families
of laborers when they are young and helpless? It then being the
interest of capital that the slave and his family should be well cared
for in sickness and in health, what stronger reason can be given that
he will not be abused? It is this interest in his labor that you would
deprive him of."

See here the scans from these two pages of The Congressional Globe, as
provided by The Library of Congress in their online database of
collections:
http://memory.loc.gov/ll/llcg/055/0900/09450943.gif
http://memory.loc.gov/ll/llcg/055/0900/09460944.gif

Source:

Library of Congress: The Congressional Globe
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwcg.html

Hope this answers your question!
Best regards,
Scriptor
narrative-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars and gave an additional tip of: $5.00
Thanks -- great answer!

Comments  
Subject: Re: history of pro-slavery sentiment in the south
From: magnesium-ga on 01 Jul 2003 15:39 PDT
 
Great detective work, Scriptor! Google Answers is an education in itself.

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